Late payment of parking fines, charges and baliffs

MushyPeas

Hiya. Posting on behalf of a friend, though I'm not sure this is the best board. Anyway, my friend has money troubles and she's managed to get some parking tickets recently. I think they started at £30 each, but each time she didn't pay them (couldn't afford to) they added on loads of charges. The other day the baliffs came round for her car and I paid two/three of her tickets (not sure how many)....but the cost was nearly £600!!!

The reason she didn't pay her parking fines was because she couldn't afford to....yet the companies kept on increasing the debt.

She's now confessed that she has another outstanding parking ticket (it might be more than one....) and has been receiving threatening phonecalls again. I know that some people on MSE are trying to claim back charges from banks and credit cards, but I wondered if anyone had any advice for dealing with this kind of situation?

Cheers

MP

Karma67

Sorry but it's bad news for your friend, she needs to pay these fines asap...or the debt will keep mounting up and eventually court and then if she doesn't pay then....she could be arrested for non payment of fines and face prison...

They will not (as far as i know) reduce these costs incurred by collection agencies, so she is not in a position to negotiate to reduce it. But i may be wrong and someone more knowledgable will be along soon...but i feel i am right on this

Chortle_2

might be worth asking the question over at the CAG website - www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

But I suspect Karma67 is right. People are claiming their bank charges back as punitive charges in contracts - but fines by their very nature are punitive, and are due to a breach of the law, rather than a breach of contract, so I doubt the same principles apply.

john_kent

I work for an enforcement company and although unlucky for your friend , its always best to pay these. Most car park companies will sell these debts on. If she has several , issued to the same vehicle , this is more likely as she will be classed as a persistant offender.

One ticket she maybe could have asked for leniancy and most companies will give a goodwill period , however , most companies also hve a policy that if you go over 14 days without contact then they will not budge.

Sorry to hear this , but unfortunatley , although the industry is looked down on , there scope is increasing and ticketing will increase.

jellybabies_2

tell your friend to phone the local courts and ask advice. there is something which resembles a stay of execution but i cant remember the name of it!!!
basically you have to sign an afidafid (spelt wrong) infront of a court employee and then there is a hearing and they have the power to wipe out the spiralling charges.
it doesnt cost you anything to do and its not really very difficult.

i helped a disabled friend in a long running dispute against TFL (CONGESTION CHARGE. LONDON) We managed to reduce the £2,000 pound bayliffs fees immensely.
good luck and keep at it.

MushyPeas

Hi JB, JK, C and K; thanks for all your replies. I was up late last night reading about car parking fines and it seems you are all correct, it's best to just pay up. You can try and query with them a breakdown of charges, but that would take time and stress and she couldn't cope, let alone me as well. Not at the moment, I have too much going on.

It seems frankly ridiculous to me that there is a law which allows such increase in charges. It seems to be the people who can't afford the fines/bank changes are the ones who gets it lumped on! It makes me really angry :mad: I don't want another phonecall from her first thing in the morning saying the baliffs are there and can I pay. It will be cheaper for me if she pays them straight away! At least I can offer her a better APR

Thanks again for all your advice. MP

heppy23

I know it's too late for your friend but one thing I learned when I lived in London is that if you get a parking ticket pay it straight away.
It won't go away, they won't forget about you and it has (as you have seen) the potential to snowball massively.

When I go to London now I go to extraordinary lengths to avoid even the chance of a parking ticket.

MushyPeas

Hiya heppy23. I hope my friend has learnt her lesson, but she hadn't told me about this other parking ticket and I wonder when she recevied it Unfortunately sometimes in life lessons can be v.v. expensive! MP

heppy23

MushyPeas wrote:

Unfortunately sometimes in life lessons can be v.v. expensive! MP

Amen to that!

bikerqueen

MushyPeas wrote:

It seems frankly ridiculous to me that there is a law which allows such increase in charges. It seems to be the people who can't afford the fines/bank changes are the ones who gets it lumped on! It makes me really angry :mad:

I can see your point as they are big increases. However, she parked in the wrong place and got ticketed, didn't write and appeal within 30 days (ALWAYS appeal, the fee is held at 30 quid until the appeal is heard, which gives you more time to save up the cash) and ignored the reminder letters, then got YOU to bail her out, at no point in this has she taken responsibility for her actions by the looks of it.

You are a good friend though, very few people I'd bail out to that level of cash!

MushyPeas

Hiya. She didn't park in the wrong space, just ran out of time. She is so short of cash, can't even afford the initial fine and is, like many others, scared of dealing with money. I have emailed her this website and I'm hoping she'll be strong enough to log on soon!!

Having been in debt I know what it is like. However I'm lucky, I'm not scared of money or of working out how to budget etc. where it really confuses her. I'm working on her, slowly